The present invention relates to a coin wrapping machine and, particularly, such a machine which can stack and wrap coins having different shapes, diameters, thickness and the like efficiently and as desired.
Japanese Patent Application Laid Open No. 10-230905 discloses a coin wrapping machine comprising a rotatable disk for feeding out coins deposited into the coin wrapping machine one by one to a coin passage, a discriminating and counting means disposed in the coin passage for discriminating whether or not coins are acceptable and the denominations of the coins and counting coins, a coin stacking section having a pair of stacking drums for stacking a predetermined number of coins therein, a plurality of wrapping rollers for winding a wrapping material around coins stacked in the coin stacking section, and a pair of upper and lower crimp claws for crimping upper and lower edge portions of the wrapping material wound around the stacked coins, the rotating speed of the wrapping rollers and the moving speed of the crimp claws being adjustable in accordance with the denomination of coins to be wrapped.
In this coin wrapping machine, coins fed onto the rotatable disk are fed one by one into the coin passage by the centrifugal force produced by the rotation of the rotatable disk and whether or not coins are acceptable and the denomination of coins are discriminated, and the number of coins is counted by the discriminating and counting means. The coins are then fed into the coin stacking section and stacked between the pair of stacking drums as the pair of stacking drums are rotated. The thus stacked coins are delivered to a location among the plurality of wrapping rollers and held between the plurality of wrapping rollers. The wrapping rollers are rotated so as to rotate the stacked coins while the wrapping material is fed to a location between the wrapping rollers and the stacked coins, whereby the wrapping material is wound around the stacked coins. Afterward, the pair of crimp claws is actuated so as to crimp the upper and lower edge portions of the wrapping material, thereby producing a wrapped coin roll.
This coin wrapping machine is further provided with a speed setting means for setting the rotating speed of the wrapping rollers and the moving speed of the crimp claws in accordance with the denomination of coins to be wrapped so that not only circular coins but also polygonal coins can be wrapped. More specifically, in the case where the wrapping rollers are rotated for wrapping polygonal coins at the same speed as that for wrapping circular coins, when stacked polygonal coins are rotated between the plurality of wrapping rollers, the contact pressure between the stacked coins and the circumferential surfaces of the plurality of wrapping rollers in contact therewith varies due to the ups and downs on the circumferential surfaces of the polygonal coins, whereby the stacked coins are sometimes vibrated out of their proper orientation to the point of flying out between the wrapping rollers. Therefore, in order to prevent stacked polygonal coins from being vibrated, this coin wrapping machine is constituted so that when stacked polygonal coins are to be wrapped, the rotating speed of the wrapping rollers is set lower than when circular coins are to be wrapped.
However, in this coin wrapping machine, since the rotating speed of the rotatable disk, the transporting speed of transporting belt and the rotating speed of the pair of stacking drums are fixed even for coins having different shapes, diameters, thickness and the like, coins sometimes cannot be stacked in the coin stacking section in a desired manner and, therefore, it is sometimes difficult to efficiently and desirably wrap stacked coins.
More specifically, if the rotating speed of the rotatable disk is constant for coins having small diameters, since a greater number of coins are fed into the coin passage per unit time as compared with coins having large diameters, coin jamming sometimes occurs so that coins cannot be stacked in the coin stacking section in a desired manner. On the other hand, in the case where coins having large diameters are stacked, since the coin weight is great, if coins are transported in the coin passage by the transporting belt at the same speed as that for small coins, they sometimes cannot be stacked between the pair of stacking drums in the coin stacking section due to their inertia force and, therefore, cannot be stacked in a desired manner. Further, in the case where thicker coins are stacked, since the amount of rotation of the pair of stacking drums required for stacking one coin becomes great, if the transporting speed of the transporting belt is the same as that for thin coins, coin jamming sometimes occurs between the pair of stacking drums. Moreover, in the case where the rotating speed of the wrapping rollers is set lower than when circular coins are to be wrapped as in the conventional coin wrapping machine when stacked polygonal coins are wrapped, if the transporting speed of the transporting belt is the same as that for circular coins, coin jamming sometimes occurs between the pair of stacking drums.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a coin wrapping machine which can stack and wrap coins having different shapes, diameters, thickness and the like efficiently and as desired.
The above and other objects of the present invention can be accomplished by a coin wrapping machine comprising denomination setting means for setting a denomination of coins to be wrapped, a rotatable disk for feeding coins toward a coin passage by centrifugal force produced by the rotation thereof, rotatable disk driving means for rotating the rotatable disk, transporting belt means for transporting the coins fed into the coin passage by the rotatable disk along the coin passage, transporting belt driving means for driving the transporting belt means, counting means disposed in the coin passage for counting the number of coins having the denomination set by the denomination setting means, and coin stacking means for stacking a predetermined number of coins whose number has been counted, said coin wrapping machine further comprising coin wrapping means comprising a plurality of wrapping rollers for holding the coins stacked by the coin stacking means therebetween and rotating them around their longitudinal axis to wind a wrapping material around a circumferential surface of the coins stacked by the coin stacking means, wrapping roller driving means for driving the wrapping rollers, a pair of crimp claw means for approaching the coins stacked by the coin stacking means and around which the wrapping material is wound from upper and lower locations and crimping upper and lower edge portions of the wrapping material, crimp claw means driving means for moving the pair of crimp claw means, and driving speed control means for controlling the rotatable disk driving means, the transporting belt driving means, the wrapping roller driving means and the crimp claw means driving means based on the denomination of the coins set by the denomination setting means, thereby controlling the rotating speed of the rotatable disk, the driving speed of the transporting belt means, the rotating speed of the wrapping rollers and the moving speed of the crimp claw means driving means.
According to the present invention, the rotation speed of the rotatable disk and the driving speed of the transporting belt means can be controlled in accordance with the diameters of coins. Therefore, in the case where the diameter of coins is small, it is possible to prevent feed-out of such a large number of coins into the coin passage that the coins jam in the coin stacking section, and in the case where the diameter of coins are large and the coin weight is great, it is possible to prevent the coins from failing to be stacked at a portion between the pair of stacking drums in the coin stacking section due to their inertia force. Further, according to the present invention, the rotation speed of the rotatable disk and the driving speed of the transporting belt means can be controlled in accordance with the thickness of coins. Therefore, in the case where coins are thick and the amount of rotation of the pair of stacking drums required for stacking one coin is great, it is possible to prevent coins from jamming at a portion between the pair of stacking drums, and in the case where coins are thin and the amount of rotation of the pair of stacking drums required for stacking one coin is small, the handling efficiency of coins can be improved. Moreover, according to the present invention, the rotation speed of the rotatable disk, the driving speed of the transporting belt means, the rotation speeds of the wrapping rollers and the moving speeds of the crimp claw means can be controlled in accordance with shapes of coins to be wrapped. Therefore, in the case where stacked polygonal coins are wrapped, it is possible not only to prevent coins from jamming between the pair of stacking drums but also to prevent the stacked coins from getting out of proper orientation during the wrapping operation and flying out from between the wrapping rollers.
In a preferred aspect of the present invention, the driving speed control means is adapted to control the rotatable disk driving means and the transporting belt driving means so that the rotating speed of the rotatable disk and the driving speed of the transporting belt means are lower than reference driving speeds when coins of the denomination set by the denomination setting means are smaller than a reference coin having a predetermined diameter and a predetermined thickness.
According to this preferred aspect of the present invention, in the case where coins of the denomination set by the denomination setting means are smaller than the reference coin having a predetermined diameter and a predetermined thickness, since the rotating speed of the rotatable disk and the driving speed of the transporting belt means are controlled to be lower than the reference driving speeds, it is possible to efficiently prevent a greater number of coins from being fed into the coin passage and coins from jamming in the coin stacking section.
In another preferred aspect of the present invention, the driving speed control means is adapted to control the rotatable disk driving means and the transporting belt driving means so that the rotating speed of the rotatable disk and the driving speed of the transporting belt means are lower than reference driving speeds when coins of the denomination set by the denomination setting means are larger than a reference coin having a predetermined diameter and a predetermined thickness.
According to this preferred aspect of the present invention, in the case where coins of the denomination set by the denomination setting means are larger than the reference coin having a predetermined diameter and a predetermined thickness, since the rotating speed of the rotatable disk and the driving speed of the transporting belt means are controlled to be lower than the reference driving speeds, it is possible to reliably prevent large diameter coins having great weight from failing to be stacked between the pair of stacking drums in the coin stacking section due to their inertia force.
In a further preferred aspect of the present invention, the driving speed control means is adapted to control the rotatable disk driving means and the transporting belt driving means so that the rotating speed of the rotatable disk and the driving speed of the transporting belt means are lower than reference driving speeds when coins of the denomination set by the denomination setting means are thicker than a reference coin having a predetermined diameter and a predetermined thickness.
According to this preferred aspect of the present invention, in the case where coins of the denomination set by the denomination setting means are thicker than the reference coin having a predetermined diameter and a predetermined thickness and the amount of rotation of the pair of stacking drums required for stacking one coin is great, since the rotating speed of the rotatable disk and the driving speed of the transporting belt means are controlled to be lower than the reference driving speeds, it is possible to efficiently prevent coins from jamming between the pair of stacking drums.
In a further preferred aspect of the present invention, the driving speed control means is adapted to control the rotatable disk driving means and the transporting belt driving means so that the rotating speed of the rotatable disk and the driving speed of the transporting belt means are higher than reference driving speeds when coins of the denomination set by the denomination setting means are thinner than a reference coin having a predetermined diameter and a predetermined thickness.
According to this preferred aspect of the present invention, in the case where coins of the denomination set by the denomination setting means are thinner than the reference coin having a predetermined diameter and a predetermined thickness and the amount of rotation of the pair of stacking drums required for stacking one coin is small, since the rotating speed of the rotatable disk and the driving speed of the transporting belt means are controlled to be higher than the reference driving speeds, the handling efficiency of coins can be improved.
In a further preferred aspect of the present invention, when coins of the denomination set by the denomination setting means are polygonal, the driving speed control means is adapted to control the rotatable disk driving means and the transporting belt driving means so that the rotating speed of the rotatable disk and the driving speed of the transporting belt means are lower than reference driving speeds and to control the wrapping roller driving means and the crimp claw means driving means so that the rotating speed of the wrapping rollers and the moving speed of the crimp claw means are lower that reference speeds.
According to this preferred aspect of the present invention, in the case where coins of the denomination set by the denomination setting means are polygonal, the rotating speed of the rotatable disk and the driving speed of the transporting belt means are controled to be lower than reference driving speeds and the rotating speed of the wrapping rollers and the moving speed of the crimp claw means are controlled to be lower that reference speeds. Therefore, it is possible to reliably prevent coins from jamming between the pair of stacking drums and also to prevent the stacked coins from being vibrated due to ups and downs on the circumferential surfaces of the stacked coins so as to get out of proper orientation during the wrapping operation and fly out from between the wrapping rollers.
The above and other objects and features of the present invention will become apparent from the following description made with reference to the accompanying drawings.